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Public Slaves in the Roman Army: An Exploratory Study

Profile image of Morris SilverMorris Silver

Ancient Society 46, 2016, 203-240

https://doi.org/10.2143/AS.46.0.3167455
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38 pages

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Abstract

Legal and other texts insist that slaves (servi) are not permitted to join the Roman army. The evidence suggests, however, that slaves might serve if they were owned by the army itself. After demonstrating the presence of public slaves (servitia castris) in Rome’s armed forces (I-II) this paper examines the nature of the duties of calones and lixae (III). Next, it is considered whether soldiers belonging to collegia were public slaves with special attention being paid to capsarii “medical orderlies” (IV). Then the status of the augusti vernae in Legion III Augusta is analyzed (V). Next, the one-namedness of legionary soldiers in inscriptions is employed to identify public slaves (VI). Finally, findings are summarized and questions raised for future research.

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Franco Luciani

A. Binsfeld, and M. Ghetta (eds.), Ubi servi erant? Die Ikonographie von Sklaven und Freigelassenen in der römischen Kunst (Forschungen zur antiken Sklaverei 43), Stuttgart, 2019

This paper sets out to provide an overview of the literary, epigraphic and iconographic evidence for the external appearance of the serui publici. In the Roman world public slaves were employed for a variety of lowly, but fundamental, administrative tasks and civic activities both in Rome and in the other cities of the Empire. However, they are one of the most underrepresented groups in Roman society, especially in the iconographic evidence. This paper aims to reconsider the textual sources on the clothing and outward appearance of public slaves, and finally to propose an identification of members of this social group in some visual depictions.

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The Position of Roman Slaves
Martin Schermaier

The Position of Roman Slaves

Roman slavery. Yet numerous inscriptions as well as literary and also legal sources reveal clear differences in the social structure of Roman slavery. At the lower end of the scale, we find the socially degraded penal slaves (servi poenae), at the top end the often wealthy and sometimes socially influential state slaves (servi caesaris). In between, there were numerous groups and professions who shared the status of being unfree while inhabiting very different worlds. The papers in this volume now pose the question of whether and how legal texts reflected such social differences within the Roman servile community. Did the legal system reinscribe social differences, and if so, in what shape? Were exceptions created only in individual cases, or did the legal system generate privileges for particular groups of slaves? Did it reinforce and even promote social differentiation? Of course, the essays collected here cannot paint a complete picture of Roman slave law. But they all probe neuralgic points that have long been known to challenge the homogeneous image of Roman slave law that still dominates modern scholarship. In this way we hope to show that Roman slave law was a good deal more colourful than historical research has so far assumed. This volume is the result of a conference held at the 'Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies' (BCDSS) in August 2020. Despite the uncertainties created by the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of the authors gathered in person in Bonn to discuss their contributions in two intensive sessions. As such, this conference was one of only a few academic bright spots during a two-year period of widespread isolation. We would like to thank the responsible bodies at the University of Bonn and the BCDSS for their support. Our special thanks go to the BCDSS, which funded both the conference and this volume. Imogen Herrad translated most of the papers in this volume into English; she also reviewed and, where necessary, improved the few that were submitted in English. We would like to express our sincere thanks for her commitment and patience in exploring particular interpretations and meanings. We would also like to thank the staff of the Institute of Roman Law and Comparative Legal History at the University of Bonn, especially Tessa Spitzley, as well as Dr Janico Albrecht at the BCDSS, who compiled the indexes and typeset and prepared the manuscript for going to press.

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Public Slaves in Rome and in the Cities of the Latin West: New Additions to the Epigraphic Corpus [First page only]
Franco Luciani

C. Noreña, and N. Papazarkadas (eds.), From Document to History: Epigraphic Insights into the Greco-Roman World, Leiden - Boston, 2019

This contribution aims at offering an update of the epigraphic corpus on public slaves and freedmen, which is currently known, with a view to providing a full-scale reconsideration of the whole phenomenon of public slavery elsewhere in the future. This catalogue has not pretension to comprehensiveness, especially because it does not include possible new attestations from Greek East. While increasing the epigraphic corpus of public slaves, the evidence collected in this paper also provides new data concerning public slavery both in Rome and in the cities of the Latin West.

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On the Effects of Military Expansion on the Institution of Slavery in Ancient Rome and the Harsh and Humane treatment of Slaves
Steven Umbrello

The nature of Roman expansion and their perpetual practice of capturing and selling slaves begs the question of what are the lasting effects of such a large influx of slaves on the already existing institution of slavery in Rome. This essay used both primary and secondary sources to show that the increasing population of slaves forced a change in the legislation governing the slave populace to create a more protective body of laws. This paper also uncovered the very diametrically opposed treatment of slaves by their masters. An analysis concludes this essay examining the possibility, albeit circumstantial, that the dependence on such a large number of slaves contributed to the eventual decline and downfall of Imperial Rome. 14 Ibid 15 Caes. BGall. 2.33.7

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Slaves of the People. A Political and Social History of Roman Public Slavery [First pages only]
Franco Luciani

Potsdamer altertumswissenschaftliche Beiträge, 79, 2022

Slavery played a crucial economic and social role in the Roman history. Unfree individuals were employed to perform a wide range of duties in both the domestic environment and the public sphere. Along with the large population of private slaves who were owned by individual masters, and the smaller but influential group of Imperial slaves who were property of the emperors, there was another category of slaves: the so-called 'public slaves' (servi publici). They were unfree individuals, owned by a community rather than a single master. Based on primary evidence, Franco Luciani aims to provide a comprehensive study of public slavery in the Roman world. By focusing on the use of public slaves in both Rome and in other cities of the Western Empire, as well as on the development of public slavery from the Middle Republic to Late Antiquity, Luciani attempts to define public slavery and to explore the historical significance of public slavery across time. He also analyses the role played by public slaves in the life of the community they belonged to. Specific attention is then drawn to manumission of public slaves and the legal status of freed public slaves. Finally, Luciani addresses the issue of the position of public slaves in Roman society.

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Related topics

  • Roman Law
  • Roman Army
  • Roman Slavery
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